


don't trip (i got you)

by snapchattingnct



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapchattingnct/pseuds/snapchattingnct
Summary: For all his life, everyone had told him that the key to happiness was money and people who said that happiness couldn’t be bought were absolute liars. Jeno was taught at a young age that money could solve everything in life, but at age twenty two, he felt like there simply wasn’t enough money in the entire world to solve his problems.Because at the end of the day, it was an awfully lonely life.But maybe his life wouldn’t be so lonely anymore, especially if Jaemin was going to be a part of it somehow.(For nomin ff, prompt #166.)
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36
Collections: NOMIN FIC FEST





	don't trip (i got you)

**Author's Note:**

> For nomin ff, prompt #166. 
> 
> I would like to firstly thank the nomin ff mods for working so hard and making this fest possible! 
> 
> To my prompter, I had a lot of fun with this prompt! Although this isn't a completed work yet, I hope that I managed to create something similar to what you were expecting. The rest of the chapters will be uploaded very soon! I had something entirely different written for this prompt, but a mere two days before the deadline, I decided to start over fresh because I didn't really like what I had written. Thus, the incompleteness. 
> 
> Anyways, for my nomin lovers, enjoy! 
> 
> Special thanks to my beta, Isis, for always dealing with my really bad grammar and tenses. And also thank you to Any, for helping me push through with this fic and giving me the motivation/inspiration I needed.

Jeno looked up from reading through the quarterly earnings, half expecting Donghyuck to be doing the same, but he wasn’t all that surprised that Donghyuck wasn’t. Instead, Donghyuck was mindlessly scrolling away on his phone, the reports long forgotten. 

“You do realize that you’re supposed to be helping me sort out all the numbers from our recent quarter, right?” Jeno asked him, eye smile on full display, although his tone had meant something of the exact opposite. 

Waving his hand dismissively in the air, Donghyuck drawled out, “You worry too much, Jeno. You need to loosen up a little, or else your blood pressure is going to be sky high.” 

“Not possible.” Jeno shook his head as he went back to reading the reports in his hand. “But maybe I could if my  _ financial advisor  _ would actually stop checking his social media and do his job.” 

“I think we need a break. That’s what I think I should do as your  _ best friend _ .” 

“You’re just using me as an excuse to take another break, Hyuck. Not that you haven’t done so already.” Throwing him a pointed look, Jeno questioned, “Have you even made it through the first set, yet?” 

“Almost.” Donghyuck smiled back at him before turning back to his phone. Swiftly typing something into his phone, he added, “Anyways, I was thinking about food. When was the last time that you ate? Because I don’t know about you, but I am  _ starving _ .” 

Casting aside the papers he was attempting to read through, Jeno tiredly took off his glasses and placed them down. “I don’t know, maybe earlier today. Like that chocolate muffin I had.” 

“A muffin? Are you serious?” Donghyuck became a spluttering mess as he heard Jeno’s answer. Glancing at his Rolex, he gasped, “Lee Jeno! That was fucking twelve hours ago and that was your breakfast, which may I add,  _ I _ got for you.” 

“Oh, maybe it was. I must have lost track of time.” 

“Okay, that’s it. I’m going to order food right now and I will take it upon myself to fatten you up so much that you won’t even be able to walk. You’ll just have to roll yourself to sleep.” Donghyuck assured him as he started to go on a hunt for the best restaurant in town. Scrolling through his phone, he asked, “So, what are we feeling tonight? How does Chinese food sound to you? I know just the restaurant. They make a  _ fantastic  _ Szechuan stir fry. It’s amazing.” 

“You can order whatever.” Jeno told him, not really paying that much attention to what his best friend was talking about in the first place. “I don’t really care.” 

Donghyuck let out a loud huff, rolling his eyes too. “You need to get laid or something. You’re too uptight.” 

Sighing, Jeno threw him a look, before biting out, “I am perfectly fine.” 

“Definitely not.” Donghyuck argued back. “And because of that, I think I should add in some special delivery instructions for this order.” 

“Like?” 

“Send your  _ cutest _ delivery boy.” 

.

Not more than a half an hour later, the doorbell to his apartment rang, startling him. Across from him, Donghyuck clapped his hands together excitedly and got up from his seat. Snatching away the papers that Jeno was currently reading, he pulled him from his seat, and pushed him towards the door. 

“What the hell, Donghyuck?” Jeno tried to push back against his best friend's hold, but when Donghyuck truly wanted something, nothing was going to stop him. And if he wanted Jeno to answer the door for some  _ ‘cute delivery boy,’ _ then it will happen. 

“I didn’t ask for the cutest delivery boy for me, you dumbo.” Donghyuck retorted, pushing him even harder towards the front door. “I asked him for you. I already have Mark, so I’m off the market. You, Lee Jeno, on the other hand, is not. Now, shoo. Get yourself a man! Remember to leave a hefty tip too! Don’t be stingy. Plus, I’m paying anyway.” 

Jeno threw Donghyuck one last scathing look before he straightened himself up, dusting off the imagery dust off of his dress shirt. Taking in a deep breath, he opened the door. 

“Special delivery for Mr. Lee Jeno?” A boy with pretty, pink hair asked, smiling an equally pretty smile back at him. 

Eyes wide, he turned around to look at Donghyuck for a split second, who was giving him a massive grin and a thumbs up, before turning back around to face the ridiculously  _ beautiful  _ stranger at his door. 

“Uh, yeah.” Jeno swallowed, his mouth suddenly becoming like saw dust as his heart started to beat just a little faster than normal. Goodness, he hasn’t been this nervous since his first business presentation in college. Reaching out to take the ordered takeout, he said, “That’s me.”

“Perfect. Two orders of our famous Szechuan stir fry and mala chicken.” The pretty boy stated. As he handed Jeno the receipt, he threw in a wink, saying, “All delivered by the cutest delivery boy as per requested.” 

The pen that he was holding skipped across the bottom of the receipt, his usual elegant signature turning into a blob of black ink. Nearly choking on his own spit, Jeno felt his ears burning. Tearing his eyes away from the beautiful stranger, he focused on the tip amount, making sure to add a couple zeros after the first digit. Heart racing, he handed the receipt back. 

Jeno was only able to look at him in the eyes for a couple seconds before his heart was beating too erratically. Instead, he lowered his eyes, glancing at the name stitched on the stranger’s uniform polo. It read,  _ Jaemin.  _

“Thank you, Jaemin.” He managed to utter out. Jeno was proud that he was able to say all of that without making a complete fool of himself, even though his voice kind of died and cracked near the end, which was a little embarrassing. He sounded like he was going through puberty again or something. 

“It was my pleasure.” Jaemin said as he flashed a million dollar smile at him, making his heart jump once again in his chest. “Anyways, enjoy your dinner!” 

He watched as Jaemin waved goodbye before he left. Jeno’s eyes didn’t stray from Jaemin’s retreating back once, until he disappeared right around the corner. Then shutting the door behind him, he pressed his back against the door and held a hand against his racing heart. Catching Donghyuck’s knowing gaze, he breathed out a quiet, “Wow.” 

“You’re welcome.” Donghyuck sang out, his eyes gleaming. Then walking across the room to take the takeout from his hand, he said, “Come on, let’s fatten you up.” 

.

A week later, Jeno found himself in the same predicament, where he was completely exhausted after looking over so many company documents and absolutely starving. One look at the clock hanging above his living room wall told him that it was well past midnight. 

At the sound of his stomach growling, he let out a deep sigh, before he begrudgingly got up from his seat and headed into the kitchen, in search of something to eat. He yanked open his fridge, half expecting to find at least an apple that he could possibly munch on, but there was nothing. 

His fridge was completely bare. 

Sighing yet again, he shouldn’t have been too surprised that his fridge was emptied out like this. He hadn’t been to the market in weeks, probably. Jeno honestly couldn’t even remember the last time he had been there. So when he tugged on the door to his pantry in search for some instant ramen, he wasn’t too taken aback that he didn’t have any of that either. 

He leaned against his kitchen counter, arms crossed against his chest. He wanted to scream. It was way too late, he highly doubted that any place would be open to deliver to him. Running a tired hand down his face, Jeno continued to stand there, contemplating his life choices. As he stared at the paperwork littering his dining table though, his eyes came across a familiar red business card. It was from the Chinese restaurant that Donghyuck had ordered for him. 

Picking it up from his messy pile, he saw that the restaurant opened pretty late. With that in mind, Jeno wasted no time in placing an order for some amazing Chinese takeout. He could always believe in Donghyuck and his choices in food. His best friend knew so many amazing restaurants. Jeno was sure that there wasn’t a single restaurant in the entire city that Donghyuck hasn’t been to. 

As he completed his payment for his order, he noticed that there was an extra box titled  _ special delivery instructions.  _ Thinking about the pretty boy, Jaemin, who had delivered the takeout to his apartment last time, Jeno decided on the whim to type in,  _ ‘send your cutest delivery boy.’  _

He could only hope and pray that he would get to meet Jaemin again. 

. 

Jeno guessed that someone had heard his prayers and answered them because the person on the other side of the door was Jaemin, just as he had hoped for. 

“Char Siu BBQ Pork for a Lee Jeno? With a special request to be delivered by the cutest delivery boy in existence?” Jaemin smiled at him as he handed over the ordered takeout. 

“Yeah. That would be me.” Jeno felt his heart flutter at the smile, it was so  _ beautiful _ . He didn’t think that he would ever grow tired of looking at that smile. “Thank you. I don’t think you understand, but you are a lifesaver.” 

“A lifesaver? Like the colorful gummies?” Jaemin teased, eyes twinkling with amusement. 

Shaking his head at the joke, Jeno said, “No, not the candy. But like actually saving my life. You guys are the only place that’s even opened this late and does delivery.” 

“Don’t you have instant ramen for midnight snacks like this?”

“I did.” Jeno explained, but with a heavy sigh, he added on, “But I ran out.”

“Oh, that’s the absolute worst. You better head out soon and stock up. You never know when that late night hunger will strike again.” 

“Yeah, I really should. I’ve been a little busy, that’s all.” 

Jaemin hummed. Then pointing at the obvious pile of paperwork that he could see even from the doorway, he nodded. “I can tell.” 

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Jeno felt his cheeks grow hot. “Yeah… it’s a lot of work to run a company…” 

“Definitely.” Jaemin agreed, before falling silent. 

As they stood there in the doorway, Jeno slowly began to take notice of the little details about Jaemin that he had missed the first time around, like how deep and gorgeous his brown eyes were. They weren’t standing all that close, a reasonable distance between them, because they were still just mere strangers after all. But from where he stood, Jeno noticed how there were golden flecks dancing in his eyes. They were warm like cups of coffee with a splash of honey and cream in it. They were so beautiful, just like the rest of him. 

Jeno felt like the air was stolen right out from his lungs. It was only when Jaemin softly cleared his throat that he was pulled out from his trance. 

Voice soft, Jaemin said, “Well, I won’t keep you from your work that much longer.” Then pointing a finger at the takeout that Jeno still had in his hands, he added, “Plus, you should really eat that before it gets cold.” 

Breaking the eye contact, Jeno glanced down at takeout, suddenly realizing where he was again. “Oh, right.” 

“Yeah.” 

No matter how much Jeno didn’t want Jaemin to leave, he really shouldn’t be keeping him here any longer, it was getting fairly late. He was sure that Jaemin was just as equally tired as he was. Hands gripping onto the takeout tightly, he gave his thanks. “Thank you for running a delivery this late for me. I know that it’s really not ideal.” 

With a small shrug, Jaemin said, “Eh, it’s not too bad. I mean I got it to see your handsome face again, right?”

His heart did a somersault, the blood rushing up to his cheeks. Jeno knew that his face was  _ so  _ red, judging by the way Jaemin’s smile widened ever so slightly, the ghost of a dimple appearing. 

.

Since that night, Jeno had been ordering dinner from the same place every day. He was quite surprised that he hadn’t gotten sick of eating that much Chinese food yet. He was sure that his taste buds would have called quits on him the third night that he had Chinese takeout in a row. It was practically his entire diet now, since he didn’t eat much of anything else. Not to mention, it wasn’t like he had the time to eat anyways. Breakfast, he had always skipped. Lunch, he rarely ate too, for he was too caught up with the paperwork and meetings at the company to remember to eat. If he did, it was always an apple or something. 

It was kind of sad now that he thought about it as he waited for Jaemin to deliver his usual order. 

For all his life, everyone had told him that the key to happiness was money and people who said that happiness couldn’t be bought were absolute liars. Jeno was taught at a young age that money could solve everything in life, but at age twenty two, he felt like there simply wasn’t enough money in the entire world to solve his problems. 

Being extremely and ridiculously wealthy was nice. Jeno swiped his cards left and right without a second thought. He hardly ever looked at the price tags. He had a garage full of luxury cars, where he could choose to drive a Porsche one day and then an Audi the next. Sometimes, he would even take his Lamborghini out for the spin if he felt like it. 

But at the end of the day, it was an awfully lonely life. 

His parents were busy in God knows where; probably in some foreign country thousands of miles from him. Ever since he had come of age, his parents handed the company in Seoul over to him to manage while they ventured out to expand the business globally. Jeno had people that would bend over backwards and tend to his every call, but these were merely transactions within a business. These people didn’t care for him or love him. The only thing that occupied their minds was to do what he requested of him and do a good enough job to keep their employment within the company. No more, no less, and Jeno had enough. 

He just wanted to be loved and cared for. Was that simply too much to ask for?

Jeno figured that it was as he sat there in his awfully quiet and empty apartment. But before his thoughts could travel to anywhere else, the sound of his doorbell ringing sliced through the unbearable silence. 

Hopping up from his seat, Jeno didn’t waste another second wallowing in his gloomy thoughts. Yanking the door open with probably more force than needed, a smile instantly found its way onto his face at the sight of Jaemin standing on the other side. 

A greeting was on the tip of his tongue, but as he caught sight of Jaemin with an armful of groceries, he found himself extremely confused. Raising an eyebrow at all the stuff, he said, “I don’t think that I ordered all of that…”

Nodding his head, Jaemin said brightly, “That’s correct. You didn’t.” 

Feeling himself grow even more confused, Jeno dropped his hand from the door handle. “So, uh, what happened to the dinner that I ordered then…?”

“I ate it on the way here.” Jaemin continued to smile at him like everything was perfect in the world, which it kind of was since his pretty boy was right here in front of him. But that didn’t erase the fact that he was still extremely hungry. 

“Excuse me?” Jeno was speechless. He must have misheard what Jaemin had said, right? Because if he didn’t then that meant that he wouldn’t have any dinner tonight. He really was going to go to bed on an empty stomach. “You  _ ate  _ it?”

Throwing his head back, laughing loudly, Jaemin said, “Oh, don’t worry. You won’t starve or anything. I’m way too nice to do something like that.” 

Lips pressing together, Jeno tilted his head to the side, “I’m still confused and very hungry.” 

“Well, that’s why I’m here. I’m going to cook you dinner, silly.” 

“What?” Jeno couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It just wasn’t possible. Was his brain playing tricks on him again? He hadn’t eaten anything all day, so maybe the lack of food was finally getting to his cognitive functions. 

“I’m going to cook you dinner. Even if our restaurant has the best food in the entire city of Seoul, you can’t live off of it forever, Jeno.” Jaemin lectured him as he began to move into his apartment. Once he was inside, Jaemin continued to say, “You need to have a proper, nutritious meal, which I will cook for you. You’re welcome.” 

Maybe his life wouldn’t be so lonely anymore, Jeno thought, especially if Jaemin was going to be a part of it somehow. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/markeuhyuckie/status/1239041276454076417?s=20) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/markeuhyuckie)


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